Reports have shown that thousands of migrants in Europe are converting to Christianity. Apparently, Hundreds of Pakistanis and Afghans have even lined up at a local swimming pool in Hamburg, Germany, to be baptized as Christians. Converts are filling up some European churches which have sometimes been left by their old Christian parishioners. In one Berlin community 1,200 Muslims, mainly Afghans and Iranians, converted in just three years. In Hamburg, the German ARD TV showed the Pakistanis and Afghans lining up to be baptized by a pastor, more than 600 people were received into the congregation. One young Iranian woman convert told the German news magazine Stern, “I’ve been looking all my life for peace and happiness, but in Islam, I have not found them,” Another convert told Stern he had found in Christianity an element—love—that was missing from the faith he was brought up in. “In Islam, we always lived in fear,” he said. “Fear God, fear of sin, fear of punishment. But Christ is a God of love.”. The Austrian Catholic church logged 300 applications for adult baptism in the first three months of 2016, with the Austrian pastoral institute estimating 70% of those converting are refugees. Watch the Video Below of a Former Terrorist who became Christian and Please PRAY for their Perseverance and Safety...

Wow thousands of Pro-Lifers took over the Streets of Dublin to Celebrate Life. The thousands of pro-lifers were in Dublin, Ireland on the weekend to celebrate the 8th Amendment which provides legal protection for unborn children. The keynote speaker was Melissa Ohden, who was born alive after a failed abortion, “You have every reason to be proud of the 8th Amendment. Passing this provision in 1983 was a hugely positive step forward for authentic human rights. As an abortion survivor, I applaud your country for it,” she said. Many lives have been saved. Picture from ProLife Campaign of the event:

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has urged believers to be true Christians and give flavor to the life of others, not to be tempted to shine light upon themselves but to bring the light of faith to their neighbors and to mankind.

The Pope was speaking on Tuesday morning during Mass at the Casa Santa Marta.

Listen to the report by Linda Bordoni:

Drawing inspiration from the Gospel reading of the day, Pope Francis spoke of when Jesus told his disciples “you are the salt of the earth”, “you are the light of the world”.

Christians, he said, must be salt and light, but never self-serving: salt must add flavor and light must illuminate the other.

The Pope continued his homily with the question: “what must a Christian do in order for the salt not to run out, so that the oil to light the lamp does not come to an end?”

The “battery” a Christian uses to generate light, the Pope explained, is simply prayer.

“There are many things one can do, many works of charity, many great things for the Church – a Catholic University, a college, a hospital – you may even be rewarded as a benefactor of the Church with a monument, but if you do not pray, it will be dark and dimly lit” he said.

Prayer, the Pope said, is what lights up Christian life, and he highlighted the fact that prayer is a “serious” matter: “a prayer of adoration to God the Father, a prayer of praise to the Holy Trinity, a prayer of thanksgiving, a prayer to request to God… prayer must come from the heart”.

As regards the salt that Christians are called to be: it becomes salt when it is given to others.

This, Pope Francis explained, is another Christian attitude: “to give of oneself, to give flavor to the lives of others, to give flavor to many things with the message of the Gospel”.

Salt is something to be used, not to keep for oneself – Francis elaborated - but to give to others.

“It’s curious – he continued - both salt and light are for others, not for oneself: salt does not give flavor to itself; light does not illuminate itself”.

Of course, he noted, you may be wondering how long salt and light can last without running out if we continue to give of ourselves relentlessly.

“That’s where the power of God comes in, the Pope explained, because the Christian is salt given to us by God during Baptism, it’s a gift that never ends”.

And reflecting on the reading from Kings in which Zarephath’s widow trusts the prophet Elijah and thus, her flour and her oil never run out, Pope Francis urged Christians to shine brightly and always overcome the temptation to shine light upon themselves.

And calling it ‘mirror spirituality’ he said “it is a bad thing” to want to shine light onto oneself: “Be light to illuminate, be salt to give flavor and to preserve”.

“May your light shine before men, the Pope concluded, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven”.

Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 360

Reading 11 KGS 17:7-16

The brook near where Elijah was hiding ran dry,because no rain had fallen in the land.So the LORD said to Elijah:“Move on to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there.I have designated a widow there to provide for you.”He left and went to Zarephath.As he arrived at the entrance of the city,a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her,“Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.”She left to get it, and he called out after her,“Please bring along a bit of bread.”She answered, “As the LORD, your God, lives,I have nothing baked;there is only a handful of flour in my jarand a little oil in my jug.Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks,to go in and prepare something for myself and my son;when we have eaten it, we shall die.”Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid.Go and do as you propose.But first make me a little cake and bring it to me.Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son.For the LORD, the God of Israel, says,‘The jar of flour shall not go empty,nor the jug of oil run dry,until the day when the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’”She left and did as Elijah had said.She was able to eat for a year, and Elijah and her son as well;the jar of flour did not go empty,nor the jug of oil run dry,as the LORD had foretold through Elijah.

Responsorial PsalmPS 4:2-3, 4-5, 7B-8

R. (7a) Lord, let your face shine on us.When I call, answer me, O my just God,you who relieve me when I am in distress;Have pity on me, and hear my prayer!Men of rank, how long will you be dull of heart?Why do you love what is vain and seek after falsehood?R. Lord, let your face shine on us.Know that the LORD does wonders for his faithful one;the LORD will hear me when I call upon him.Tremble, and sin not;reflect, upon your beds, in silence.R. Lord, let your face shine on us.O LORD, let the light of your countenance shine upon us!You put gladness into my heart,more than when grain and wine abound.R. Lord, let your face shine on us.

AlleluiaMT 5:16

GospelMT 5:13-16

Jesus said to his disciples:“You are the salt of the earth.But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?It is no longer good for anythingbut to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.You are the light of the world.A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;it is set on a lampstand,where it gives light to all in the house.Just so, your light must shine before others,that they may see your good deedsand glorify your heavenly Father.”

He was a native of Yorkshire, and even in his childhood an enemy to the usual amusements of that age, loving only prayer, serious reading, and useful and pious employments. Having finished his studies, he was ordained priest, and instituted to a rectorship of a parish in the diocese of York; but after discharging that office some time with great assiduity and zeal, he resigned that living, and took the religious habit in the Benedictine monastery of our Lady in York. Richard, the prior of this house, and twelve others, desiring to serve God according to the primitive institute of the Benedictine Order, left the monastery, with leave of the abbot, and endeavoring to execute their project, struggled with incredible hardships; till Thurstan, the pious archbishop of York, gave them a desert valley, called Scheldale, with the town of Sutton, where, in the midst of winter, and in extreme poverty they founded the celebrated abbey which, from certain springs, was called Fountains, in 1132. The Cistercian Order, which had been lately introduced into England, and settled at Rievalle, was perfectly agreeable to the fervent dispositions of this holy colony; and at their request the monastery of Fountains was received into it by St. Bernard, who in his letters extols the perfection and sanctity of this new nursery of saints, which, from the beginning, was a model to the whole order for devotion, austerity in fasts, labor, by which all the monks procured their subsistence, fervor in all religious exercises, and cheerfulness in singing assiduously the divine praises. No murmur or sadness was known among them; nor any strife or contention ever heard of, unless of charity or humility: they never yielded to rest, till fatigued with labor; and always came hungry from their slender table, which was chiefly furnished with pulse and roots from their garden. St. Robert seemed so far to eclipse the rest of this holy company by the lustre of his piety, that they all had their eyes on him in their religions duties, and studied to transcribe his fervor in their actions. Ranulph of Merley, baron of Morpeth, paying a visit to the monastery of Fountains five years after its foundation, was so struck with the edifying deportment of the terrestrial angels who inhabited it, that he obtained of the abbot Richard a certain number of those monks, and built for them a monastery called Newminster, near Morpeth, in Northumberland, in 1137, of which St. Robert was appointed abbot.

The saint in his new dignity thought it his duty not only to walk before his brethren, but to go beyond them all in every religious observance; and all his virtues seemed to receive new vigor, and a new degree of perfection in this eminent station. His affection to holy prayer is not to be expressed. He recommended to God continually those committed to his care, and with many tears poured forth his soul for them night and day. He was favored with the gift of prophecy and miracles. He founded another monastery a Pipinelle, or Rivebelle, in Northamptonshire, and lived in the strictest union of holy friendship with St. Bernard; also with St. Godric, a holy hermit in those parts, illiterate as to secular learning, but a most spiritual man. St. Robert finished his course by a happy death on the 7th of June, 1159. Miracles attested his sanctity to the world. He is named in the Roman Martyrology.